When will fraud end in this state?
If you thought the estimates of $9 billion of fraud across 14 Medicaid programs in Minnesota were high, hold on! This week, long awaited data practice requests confirmed what many already feared: that Minnesota’s fraud numbers now have climbed to an unfathomable $20 billion.
Many hard-working families and business owners are paying their own taxes this time of year. I’m hearing from constituents that the enormous amount of fraud, waste, and abuse - which many now think of as organized corruption - within our state government is unforgiveable. And I agree! Most people do not mind paying taxes if they know they are being used in good faith to improve infrastructure like roads and clean water systems, help education, or care for our elderly and disabled.
People are angry – rightfully so. They want to know what we are doing about it. Recently I was selected to be a member of the House Fraud Committee. This committee has been operating for 14 months under the leadership of Republican chair Kristin Robbins and has worked to publicly expose and pressure the Walz administration to bring transparency and accountability back to Minnesota.
Due to these efforts a 56-page report prepared by Tim O’Malley, Director of Program Integrity, was published in February. O’Malley lays out how Minnesota’s Department of Human Services could prevent fraud as opposed to respond to it. It’s clear that DHS could take many steps immediately to begin necessary reforms that would change the culture and increase internal controls over taxpayers’ money.
If you pay attention, not only will you see Minnesota making national news regularly, but even our local media has greatly escalated news coverage doing deeper dives and exposing the enormity of Minnesota’s fraud issues.
Following are a few additional fraud issues which I haven’t had time to cover in my monthly updates.
Number of Minnesota autism providers jumped from 41 to 328 in five years. That’s an 800% increase! In the last year, the number continued to rise – estimated at 500 during committee testimony, which would be an increase of 1200%! Also, the amount billed per recipient increased a whopping 3000% over 5 years – another glaring red flag that was ignored. A state report found 90% of claims billed for autism services may be fraudulent.
Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Program fraud. A needed program that provides a ride to medical appointments for vulnerable and elderly adults in our state was finally labeled as high risk. 15 years ago, it was recommended that transportation providers install GPS tracking devices in vehicles so it could track customer delivery as well as actual mileage. It never happened, and countless dollars were stolen.
“Promise Act” fraud. The Minnesota Promise Act, a $100 million grant program that was passed by the Democrat-led legislature in 2023 to support businesses impacted by civil unrest and racial discrimination, was found to have numerous ineligible recipients.
Within DHS, the Office of Legislative Auditor’s investigations have revealed the agency deliberately killed investigations of kickbacks, and found employees had backdated and forged documents to cover their tracks. This is criminal!
It is overwhelming to process how things got this bad. As a lawmaker, it is shocking to view graphs showing sharp increases in payouts and try to understand how the agencies or administration looked the other way with this unprecedented growth.
This is why people are exhausted from the rampant corruption and mismanagement happening in our state. Minnesota is an outlier when it comes to fraud, and new cases come forward every week. In some cases, it has been happening for decades, and it has taken House Republicans bringing these problems to the forefront to discuss change. The Walz administration has proven it will do nothing unless the media calls them out, and even then, employees are actively trying to cover their tracks and distract from their crimes.
If you suffer from fraud fatigue like I do, I understand. But realize the only way to end the fatigue is to provide accountability. Without a real desire to expose fraud, investigate past failures and implement new systems to help prevent crime in the future, the fraud pandemic in our state will never end.